Peter Hodgson from I Heart Guitar has written a really good blog post based on a series of questions that started with a forum thread on the Seymour Duncan User Group Forum. The blog post shares—and then answers—this basic question … If a guitar manufacturer contacted you wanting to create your signature guitar, what would it be? That’s the basic question. Easy right? Yeah, let the dreaming begin.
To play the game properly though, a series of specific questions need to be answered.
- Which company called you?
- Which standard model in their product lineup do you base your sig off of? (Need not be in current production.)
- What specs do you insist upon that make it uniquely yours?
- What other customizations do you make to the guitar?
- What special piece of “case candy” goes with it as a collector’s item?
I discovered this series of questions and Peter’s blog post after reading a tweet Peter made on Twitter. In that tweet, Peter asked what other people would choose. This of course got me thinking what my signature model would be. I initially thought that the custom guitar I’m having created by Moniker Guitars was the obvious choice. After all, I’d already put a heap of thought into that guitar and its components. I’d selected wisely and I look forward to my Scarebear guitar like you wouldn’t believe.
But what if a company came to me? What if that company said “Let us build you a signature model based on something in our catalogue that other guitar lovers can then purchase in attempts to be just like Scarebear”.
After my laughing fit, I decided these would be my answers to the five questions above and therefore determine what would be my signature model.
Which company called?
GJ2 Guitars. Being able to have similar conversations that Randy Rhoads had with Grover Jackson? Yes please.
Which standard model would I base my signature model on?
The Concorde. Pretty much for the same reason as my first answer.
What specs would be uniquely mine?
String-through-body bridge, individual volume controls (no tone controls), Seymour Duncan Blackouts Metal active pickups (bridge and neck positions) and GraphTech Ratio Tuned Machine Heads.
What other customisations would I make?
I would use all black hardware on a solid white guitar (headstock and body).
What case candy comes with this signature model?
A Bullet Cable 30′ coil cable, iRig HD guitar interface and a few custom Scarebear Grover Allman plectrums. Remember, I’m still in dreamland.
There you have it. The Scarebear signature model guitar. I’d buy it!
If you have as much spare time as I do, have a crack at answering these questions. I’m sure glad I caught the I Heart Guitar blog article and tweet that shared the initial forum questions. Otherwise I’d have missed the opportunity to create my own signature model. It happened in my head and I’m grateful for that.